Cold has finally hit here in the Midwest. That means our heat is constantly running and making our homes cold. The designers of Honeywell Humidifiers and indoor air scientists have released new research on how everyday household objects suffer under low humidity conditions and what steps homeowners can take to combat the effects of dry air.
The research conducted found that the following list of 10 household items are most impacted by low relative humidity:
- Wood Furniture: Has your favorite wooden bench seemed a little shakier? It could be because of low humidity. Wood absorbs and desorbs water as relative humidity rises and falls, which causes it to swell and shrink. This results in furniture joints becoming loose or even pulling apart.
- Musical Instruments: Not sounding quite right? Low humidity levels may be to blame for your instrument falling out of tune. Natural wood instruments such as guitars, violins and pianos can be damaged when the wood contracts resulting in failed glue joints or cracks.
- Books: Low humidity causes the pages of books to become more brittle and fragile, and the dimensions of the pages can even change as the paper absorbs and desorbs water. This leads to wrinkles in the paper, flaking ink, or warped covers on books.
- Woodwork and Wood Floors: If you’ve noticed a slight bend in your wood floors, or gaps between the planks, it could be because of low humidity. As the wood expands and contracts, mitered corners can separate and floors can “cup” so that the floor doesn’t remain flat.
- Wine: Does your uncorked bottle of wine not taste right? Wine corks can dry out, shrink and crack if exposed to low humidity overtime, allowing air to come into contact with the wine and potentially ruin the bottle.
- Artwork: Maintaining humidity levels is vital for protecting artwork around the home. Low moisture levels tend to make paint brittle and prone to cracking, which is especially detrimental to oil paintings on canvas.
- Stamp Collections: Much like books, repeated absorption and desorption of water can ruin stamps by making them brittle or discolored.
- Photograph Collections: Have you noticed your new photographs looking more like your parents’ photo albums? When photographs curl up at the ends, it’s likely due to low humidity levels. They can also result in the photo emulsion flaking off and damaging the photograph.
- Walls: Peeling wallpaper and separated drywall seams can be a sign of low humidity in the home. The porous materials may crack and separate when exposed to low levels.
- Electronic Equipment: Static electricity brought on by low humidity levels can damage internal components of computers, televisions and other electronics – a lot more damaging than dealing with static in your hair!
We've been recently trying out the new Honeywell Top Fill Console Humidifier. I love how easy it is to use, and how it adds moisture to our air. It's so nice to NOT have dry skin, chapped lips, and a scratchy throat. There are 2 easy ways to fill – at the humidifier or carry to the sink to fill. The adjustable humidistat automatically turns the humidifier on and off to maintain set humidity levels. It isn't constantly running which I love. There is also three-speed settings to adjust moisture output and sound level. The wicking filter removes impurities from water reducing white dust and providing clean moisture output. I can only recommend it!
Since we love ourHoneywell Top Fill Console Humidifierso much, I have arranged for one of my lucky readers to win one — just click on the image below!
Why would you like a Honeywell Humidifier?
We have forced hot air heat, so we run a humidifier every single day! It gets SO dry in here.
It has finally gotten cold for us too down here in the south!! My lips, hands and feet are so dry and I can’t stand it!!
This would be perfect for our home. We have a decent sized house, and when the heat is in full swing in the winter, it gets so dry.
Thanks for sharing this giveaway! Our house gets so dry in the winter. This would be perfect for us.
I live in the desert and my sinuses are always dry! I want a Honeywell humidifier to help alleviate dry sinuses.
Delivered strong all the time, my hands show it. Getting a humidifier probably would be a very good idea for us since the air is very dry here.
I never realized that so many products could be impacted by low humidity. I’ve been saying I am going to get a new humidifier in the new future so I’ll add this to my list to check out. It looks like a good one.
We have humidifiers in all the bedrooms and both the violins have sponges and water tubes in their cases!
We have talked about getting one for our library. There are some books in there that I know I would be heartbroken if they sustained significant damage.
My hubby always needs a humidifier. His body reacts to changes in humidity and air pressure so we have to keep that constant in the house. We still have a good one in place, but I will keep this Honeywell Humidifier in mind when the time comes that we need to replace our old one.
We just moved and I threw our away. I was concerned there was bacteria growing inside!
I really need this. Our interior space has been so dry and we need a humidifier to make it comfortable.
Thank you for the giveaway!
We also notice a difference in our food. We buy in bulk…so much of our stuff becomes stale or damp (causing it to clump) easily.
This is a great giveaway. I would love a Honeywell Humidifier for my house. I will have to go check them out.
Such a great giveaway! i think i need Honeywell Humidifier in our house it gets so dry.
Great giveaway! This would come very handy during this cold weather. I could use a new one for our home!
My nose gets so dry when the heater is on so this would be great to have. Thanks for the giveaway!
I have the Honeywell Humidifier, too. It’s a little bulky, but I love it.
I live in Texas, and the constant changing temperatures makes my sinuses go haywire. In fact, I just got over a sinus infection but I know a Honeywell Humidifier would definitely help my sinuses on the days when the air is so dry, it makes my nose hurt.
I never realized that so many things were affected by cold weather!! Great post!!
I need a humidifier because the air in my home is so dry. These Iowa Winter’s are killing me!
Those are amazing tips! I knew humidity was important for hardwood floors but I rarely thought of the ones that you have listed.
We just put our small humidifier in our bedroom last week as we notice that we were not sleeping well with it feeling so dry in our condo.
This is a perfect giveaway for this time of year. Humidifiers like this always come in handy during cold and flu season!
I love Honeywell products! We need a new humidifier so I’ll have to check this out! Thanks for sharing.
Great giveaway. We use a humidifier in Winter and Summer. I love Honeywell products
My husband has severe allergies and he needs this because our house gets too dry in the winter. I know we would love this.
We could use a humidifier because my kids get so stuffy in the winter.
We use our humidifier all winter long and could certainly use a new one for our second story. If I every purchase another it will be a Honeywell.
I had no idea so many things were affected by the cold weather, it’s good to know this now so I can help prevent any future trouble. I think we need a humidifier in our house, it’s starting to get really dry around here.
I would love to win one for my baby due in May
You know I never really thought about this but I do remember having to fight my Clarinet to do it’s job when we were playing end of the season football games and gigs…it did not like cold weather and it all makes sense now!
Gotta protect my wine! LOL To heck with everything else, let’s just make sure my wine doesn’t taste funny! 😉
I would love to win this Honeywell Humidifier because we use wood heat which drys the air. Dry air leads to dry skin.I believe a humidifier would help.
It gets really dry here because we heat with a wood stove.
My son gets allergies and I think this would help him. THank you
My home has horrible static and gets so dry it dries out our sinuses
My husband has dry cough / allergies Ive read that a good humidifier will help sooth this ailment.
I would love this because our house is so dry. My skin is so itchy! Thanks for the chance!
i would use it in my room the air here is super dry ty 🙂
its dry in my home and humidifier opens up my nose helps with breathing.ty